NFL Regular Season Look Back

One of the fun things about having a blog is that you have an archive to go back and look at all the things you predicted before a season starts and you get be held accountable since it's all out there if people want to dig back and look. Since I don't imagine that people do want to look back, I'm going to do it for you. Overall it was an average season for me in the NFL:

Raleigh's Best Bets:
My 1-0-2 Week 17 got me to exactly .500 for the season.

Overall: 24-24-3
First Half: 11-13
Second Half: 13-11-3

Over/Under Game:
The original post can be found HERE

Again, a .500 result:

The short of it is that I correctly hit that Tampa (6.5) and Cleveland (6.5) would go under their number and that Baltimore (8.5) would go over theirs.

I was incorrect in thinking Dallas (9) and Houston (8.5) would go under their numbers and the Giants (9.5) would go over theirs.

2009 NFL Predictions:
The original post can be found HERE

Some of these are funny. I guess I must have been really high on James Davis. His 13 touches for 20 yards probably have to put him towards the top of the Offensive Rookie of the Year vote, right? What propaganda was I reading during the preseason? Bart Scott as Defensive Player of the year? Wrong Jet. Coach of the Year...Jim Mora Jr?

Picked a bad year to start the blog. If any of you went along with my picks or anything this year, I apologize for losing your vig.

UFC 104 Fight Predictions

Since I am not going to be able to watch tomorrows event, I havent spent much time following it. But my predictions for the main PPV fights are below.

Lyoto Machida vs. Mauricio Rua: Machida is clearly on a roll. After his destruction of Rashad Evans, people expect him to make quick work of Rua. Although I think he'll win, prior to his last 2 fights almost everything went to decision. I expect it to be closer than people expect and Machida to win by submission in the 4th Round.

Cain Velasquez vs Ben Rothwell: I dont know anything about Rothwell since he is an IFL guy, but his height and weight advantage scare me. However, Velasquez has beat some big dudes and I expect him to win in the 3rd round.

Gleison Tibau vs. Josh Neer: A tough fight to call. Both of these guys have lost 3 of their last 5 fights, and I was at Neer's last loss and it was embarrassing. They both usually go the distance, so I'll take Neer by decision.

Joe Stevenson vs. Spencer Fisher: Stevenson has lost 3 of his last 5 fights, but they were to BJ Penn, Kenny Florian and Diego Sanchez. Arguably the 3 best guys in the weight class, worlds above Fishers class. Stevenson by stoppage in round 2.

Anthony "Rumble" Johnson vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida: I always like the guy with the crazy height advantage, and with Johnson's kicks, 3 inches is a big deal. Might be the shortest fight of the night. Rumble in round 1.

Raleigh's AL and NLCS Predictions

I picked a World Series of Angels/Cardinals. So much for that.

In the National League:
I fell too much in love with the Carpenter-Wainwright 1-2 punch. Underestimated the Dodgers completely. I'm taking the Dodgers in 7 this time around. I know Kershaw lost both his starts against Philly this year but the the 2nd time he faced them was June 4th when his ERA was nearly a run and a half higher. I think he'll do okay. The Phillies bullpen is just too suspect this year for me to think they are a World Series team.

In the American League:
Since I went with the Angels in my original prediction I'll stick with them.

The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights Episode 4 Recap

I'm taking over the recap from Bob this week while he's out of town. I haven't been a UFC fan very long. I actually only started getting in to it when I turned on Spike one day and ended up catching the Season 7 semi-finals. I didn't even realize the UFC had a reality show at the time and have tuned into every episode since. I'm currently working my way through earlier seasons on Netflix as well. So Bob is better equipped at this than I am.

That being said, I understand that the UFC needs to take advantage of the ratings potential of Kimbo Slice but I can't remember seeing a more misleading promo of a TV show than for this week's episode of TUF. A mysterious illness strikes down Marcus Jones opening a window for Kimbo Slice to maybe get back in the ring this week. Not even close. There was something wrong with Marcus but it was even before fight announcements and the only purpose is served was as another way to showcase Kimbo as a likable guy as he was helping Marcus out.

Just like in the first three episodes, Rashad is proving to be ten times the coach Rampage is. I don't know if it's that Rampage isn't any good at coaching or that he just doesn't care. A part of me thinks he just doesn't care as evidenced by picking Kimbo first for his team in episode 1 despite other guys having more size and skill but then go back to his first coaching stint on Season 7 and out of the eight quarter finalists that season, he had 2 of the 6. I don't know. Rashad talked about his coaching strategy. He realizes that the few weeks he has to work with his fighters isn't enough time to reshape them so he's going to focus on making them better at what they are already good at. Rashad and his coaches also devise a strategy of who is going to fight who to ensure all eight of his guys makes the quarterfinals. After telling his fighters who they are going to fight next, Justin Wren initially agrees to fight Scott Junk before changing his minds because they're friends outside the show. But that's not the biggest problem because Mike Mittrione for some reason lets Team Rampage in on who's fighting who. There is speculation that Mike tipped their hand hoping that it would make Rashad change the fights because he wasn't keen on fighting Marcus Jones (who during a montage, was pulling a Lennie from Of Mice and Men on his teammates during training not knowing his own strength during sparring and rolling on the mat. Often connecting to hard or going too far on a submission).

Rashad picks Brendan Schaub to fight Demico Rogers which was Rashad's original plan despite Mike letting everyone know this was coming. Brendan is excited about the fight as is Rampage, calling it a "winnable" fight. There was some funny stuff this episode between Rampage and Demico. Rampage not wanting to train him because he looked like Rashad Evans. Even going as far as covering his face with a towel while rolling on the mat during one of those mid commercial vignettes.

I'm not going to play-by-play leg kicks and take down attempts since it wasn't that long of a fight but to sum it up, Demico was is very good position doing a lot of good work on top. Despite having good position he decided to continue to pass Branden's guard where Branden was then able to reverse it and within 30 seconds was able to get Demico to tap out via Anaconda Choke. Incredulous that one of his guy could lose by Anaconda Choke, no one went in to the ring to console Demico. Rashad comforted Demico and severely questioned Rampages coaching style in his confessional.

One good thing might have come out of this loss for Team Rampage. Rampage called his coaches in for an emergency meeting. He came to the conclusion that the fighters here are very green and that they can't feed them as much information as they could to someone more seasoned. It looks like Rampage may actually start coaching.

Raleigh's Division Series Predictions

I like to do it round by round so I can re-do it but my World Series pick is Angels/Cardinals. Popular pick is Yankees/Cardinals but the popular pick rarely happens and I think the Cardinals have an easier path than the Yankees.

Phillies in 4

Cards in 5

Yankees in 4

Angels in 5

Elicash23 NFL Predictions

Since I questioned Raleigh's NFC representative I guess it's only fitting I chime in with my own opinions on the upcoming NFL season.

AFC:
East - Patriots
North - Steelers
South - Titans
West - Chargers

Wildcards - Texans, Colts

NFC:
East - Giants
North - Bears
South - Falcons
West - 49ers (By default)

Wildcards - Eagles, Saints

Super Bowl - Steelers/Giants
Champion- Steelers

Offensive ROY - Donald Brown
Defensive ROY - Brian Orakpo
Defensive POY - DeMarcus Ware
NFL MVP - Philip Rivers
Coach of the Year - Mike Singletary

2009 NFL Predictions

The timing is perfect to start off this blog with some NFL Predictions

AFC:
East - Patriots
North - Steelers
South - Colts
West - Chargers

Wildcards - Ravens, Titans

NFC:
East - Giants
North - Vikings
South - Panthers
West - Seahawks

Wildcards - Eagles, Saints

Super Bowl - Patriots/Vikings

Offensive ROY - James Davis
Defensive ROY - Aaron Curry
Defensive POY - Bart Scott
NFL MVP - Tom Brady
Coach of the Year - Jim Mora Jr